Hanging Tree
by Scribe of Spades
Summary: My representation of the Hanging Tree. Semi-happy ending.


It happened when the message came that they would withholding food came. We were a poor district, but there was food around us. We were the main agriculture District, for Panem's sake. Food wouldn't be hard to come by. We were a new District, all the Districts were new, and security wasn't tight. Food goes missing sometimes. We overlook it like we hope others will when we need food.

But when these 'Peacekeepers' came, and started punishing us for taking food that we desperately needed, things got ugly. First it was riots of small groups of less than a hundred, then full out rebellions. People were starting to talk about a second war. I was born only a few years before the end of the Dark Days, and from what I remember, I don't want another one.

"Hey, woman!" A voice calls behind me. I don't look up, hoping he doesn't mean me." The one in the green shawl, come here!"

Damn." Yes?" I say, looking at the face above the uniform.

_Rye… _I observe the freshly printed tag on his uniform._ Is he from here…? _He doesn't look much older than me. His uniform is dirty but new, and he has a helmet tucked under his arm and a gun on his belt. Most of the Peacekeeper come from District 2 now.

A clipboard appears in his hands. "Are you Caspia Locke?" He reads.

"Yes." Should I be afraid or irritated? Am I in trouble? The wardens don't tolerate slacking off, and ten lashes and a day chained up in the square doesn't seem like a pleasant way to spend my afternoon.

"Report to the square. Now." He says shortly, continuing down the row.

I don't bother asking. I sling my bag over my shoulder, drop my partial-basket of wheat by the trucks, and sign out. The Peacekeeper sitting there punches my number and gives me a tag showing that I am free from work. It's a ten minute walk from my field to the square. I make it in six.

I get there just as a crowd starts to form. I see the ropes and the makeshift nooses on the ends and then it clicks. Public hanging, and they want witnesses. A sense of unease washes over me. Something shifts behind me before an arm wraps around my waist. Then the smell of citrus hits me. "Luc." I breathe, relief flooding my body.

"Hello, love." I twist around and come face to face with my smiling husband." Glad they let you out." I says, kissing me.

"Terrible reason." I say, remembering the ropes on the stage.

Luc shrugs, shaking his head full of blonde curls." I get to see my beautiful wife, and that's all that matters."

Suddenly the crown materializes around us, and we end up near the front. The ropes are looped over the branch of a tree that reaches the center of the stage. Two ropes, and I don't have long to wonder who they're for.

Sarah Starn and her husband, whose name I never bothered to learn, are huddled together on the stage. The winds gusts, and the ropes swing menacingly. Sarah looks up at them, tears in her eyes, then down beside me. I follow her line of sight, and see her children, Heather and Lavender, twin girls of seven. They are standing alone, both crying silently.

Stealing food is a death sentence, and Sarah has the coughing sickness. Her husband works with Luc in the citrus groves, but they aren't paid much there. It isn't enough to feed three other people.

Everyone knows what it's for, so there is no speech. Sarah and her husband are dragged to the center and pushed onto tall crates. The nooses are looped around their necks. Sarah grasps her husband's hand tightly.

"Let me go." I shrug Luc off. He lets go, and I run to the twins. I turn them away and pull them close, hiding them from what's about to happen. Sarah looks down at me, thanks burning in her eyes. Then the crates are kicked from under their legs simultaneously.

I barely have time to wince at the loudly cracks before the crowd roars. Suddenly I'm being trampled, one-hundred feet crushing me and the little girls pinned under my body. I hear gunshots, hear the children screaming, and have someone pressed on top of me. Two more heavy bodies pile onto me, and I see the white of Peacekeeper uniforms.

I can't breathe. I force air in and get a forceful gust of iron-tinged earth. My head is spinning and I close my eyes. Then everything goes black.

A cool hand is pressed to my skin, and I gasp. The familiar smell of citrus comes to me before my vision returns, but the metal tang of blood fills my nose. Luc is pulling the dead Peacekeepers off of me. One of their guns unhooks from their belt, crashing heavily onto my chest. I retch dryly, doubling over.

"Caspia!" Luc looks panicked. He pulls the gun off of me with trembling hands.

"'M alright." I murmur. The twins buried beneath my body are gone, small imprint where they lay all that's left of them. "Where are the girls?"

"They must've escaped. They weren't with the others."

It takes me a second to realize what he means. There are bodies, twenty at least, piled around us. I still hear sounds of fighting in the distance. It was a riot, a small one by comparison, but it was still a riot. "We should get out of here."

I'm covered in blood, some I know is not mine. Luc has blood on his hands. We slip away, and walk quickly to our house. We get inside and shut the door quietly, sighing in relief. Luc wipes a trickle of blood from my forehead with his still shaking hand.

We strip in silence. Anything bloodstained is thrown into a basket, and I clean Luc hands with a wet rag. The moment his hands are blood-free and the rag is tossed away, Luc pulls me close." I was so worried." He breathes into my hair." I saw your shawl under those bodies and I thought-"

"It's over." I say, reassuring myself as much as I am him.

His heartbeat thumps through my chest, matching my own. We sit in silence. The sun starts to go down when we separate. We eat dinner in silence. We curl up together on our straw mattress, bare minutes feeling like eons. My eyes slide shut, and I bury myself against Luc's chest. I sigh in relief. It's over.

Then a loud banging breaks the silence. Luc starts to get up, but I grip his hand tightly. He tightens his fingers quickly, then let's it go." Problem, Officers?" He says, opening the doors.

Three Peacekeepers are standing outside. "Lucian Locke?" The middle one, a mean looking man with black eyes, says shortly. _He already knows…_

"Yes, sir." Luc says, looking him in the eyes.

"You are accused and guilty of the murder of three men. Arrest him." The two Peacekeepers flanking the black-eyed one lunge for Luc.

I leap for him, and am pushed to the ground.

"I love you." He says as they push his arms behind him. I grab for his wrist and he pulls his arm out of the Peacekeeper's grip, linking his hand with mine. Our fingers tangle for a heartbeat." Caspia, I love you so much."

"Don't leave me." I plead, but his hand slips through mine. And then he's gone, the door crashing shut behind his retreating back.

When the shock ends, I run out the door after my husband. I make it to the square in record time. Luc is on the ground by the stage surrounded by Peacekeepers. I push my through the large crowd already forming in front of the tree. Everyone is in my way and they won't move!

Luc is staring up the ropes hanging from the tree, not noticing me running toward him. I get past the crowd and push my way through the Peacekeepers. I try to get to his side, but am held back. It's Peacekeeper from earlier.

" Please, he's my husband." I plead, not needing to fake the desperation in my voice.

He opens his mouth to refuse, but then look of pity crosses his face. He lifts his arm. "Hurry," He says, letting me pass.

I get to Luc and wrap my arms around him, crushing the wind out of him. He looks down at me in shock." Caspia, you shouldn't be here."

"You didn't do anything wrong." I murmur into his shirt, tears forming in my eyes.

Slowly Luc pries me off." They need someone to blame, Cas. They need to make a point, and an execution is a damn good one."

"No…They can't do this. They can't kill you!" Tears break out and make fresh lines on my skin.

"It's just a necklace, Caspia." His voice shakes, and his own tears pepper the top of my head. "Just a necklace…"

Then the Peacekeeper who let me through tries to pull me away. I pull my arm away and fly back into Luc's arms. He bends over and whispers in my ear, "Caspia, listen to me. Live. Live your life. But if it ever becomes too much-"The Peacekeeper pulls me away, and Luc follows far enough to kiss my forehead. Then he is pulled back, and I am carried into the crowd.

Luc climbs the stairs as the Peacekeeper drags me away, kicking and screaming. People are staring, my nails draw blood, but it doesn't matter. Luc is up there. I kick and try to claw my way out of the Peacekeeper's grip. He doesn't relent, and I slump in his arms. Luc steps up on the crate, and the Peacekeepers loop a noose around his neck.

Luc looks down at me, then up. His eyes look at the twin rope beside him, then down again at me._ If it ever becomes too much… _I nod. The tears flow freely, all the fight leaving me_._ The Peacekeepers advance._ I love you_, Luc mouths. The Peacekeeper turns me away like I did for the twins, what feels like centuries ago.

Then it's over and nothing matters anymore.

The next hours alternate between moving at the speed of syrup and flashing by in heartbeats. I cry, scream, and consider cutting my heart out of my chest just to stop the pain. Soon I'm curled in the bed, retching and sobbing, and twisted in the blankets that still smell like the fruit that Luc spends_, spent,_ his days harvesting. I'm alone.

Soon there's no more tears to cry, my throat is raw, and my body is giving in to the lying embrace of sleep. _It's too much… _The darker part of my mind whispers_. Luc wanted me to live. _I argue, _he told me to live my life._

But what was living without him?

What did I have left? Working in a field? Starving to death? What I could have wasn't living, it was prolonged pain. Death was swifter. There was nobody left. I was an orphan, and we had no children. But I don't want to die. Yet, no matter what happens during or after death, Luc will be there. He promised.

It takes an amazing amount of effort to leave the house. The moon has risen long ago and is starting to fall. The sky to the east has started to purple and I know everyone will be waking soon to start the day's work. The sky is turning pink when I trudge into the square. I see that damned tree before I see his body.

My sweet husband, my Luc, is still there. I see his blonde hair, and that ever present half-smile that not even death could end. I brush my hand over his. His scarred fingers aren't cold, but they lack the warm heat of life under the flesh. I see the noose too, swinging on his right. It lacks the menace it once did, now only a promise of oblivion with my husband. _And it's waiting for me._

It takes only a moment more to realize that the wooden crates that once stood here are gone. The rope is much too high. The only way I can reach it is by climbing the dark branches that beckoned me sinisterly.

I steady my hands on the blackish bark of the old hanging tree. I clench my teeth and pull myself up, an inch at a time. My hands hurt, and for every foot I make I lose a third of it. When I get to the top, a sliver of sun is shining. I pull the rope up and grit my teeth, pushing it over my head and tightening it. I twist over the side of the branch and hang by my fingertips, looking at the ground below.

"I love you." I say, feeling my grip on the branch loosen.

I look up at the sunrise before letting go.

Heat. White hot burning heat surrounds me, but I feel no pain. Only light and warmth and an overwhelming sense of calm. There is no floor beneath my feet, and no ceiling or discernable sky above me. But I feel safe and secure. One word repeats over and over. Home.

"_Caspia_…" A whisper echoes in what could be considered behind me." _Caspia…"_

"Hello?" I flutter helplessly in midair, unable to find purchase in nonexistent ground." Let. Me. Down!" I grind out. Then there is a solid surface, smooth as glass, beneath my feet. I sprint forward into nothingness in search of that familiar voice.

"I'm here, Cas." His voice, so close I could touch him, says reassuringly.

"Luc!" I run, full out, it feels like hours but can only be seconds. Then I collide with a wall of flesh that even in death smells like fruit." Luc!" I shout in surprise.

"Caspia." He grins widely," I knew you'd come." I realize tears are filling his eyes and they fill mine too. H pulls me close and almost lifts me from the ground, sighing in relief.

"I-I couldn't do it. Not without you. Never without you." I start to sob, clutching him like a ragdoll. Luc lowers me down gently.

"I know." He says, setting his chin on my head.

"Would it ever have gotten better?" I breathe," Should I have waited?"

"It would have, years after we would have been gone. After many years of pain and war, things change someday, everything gets better for them."

"Promise?" I look up at him.

"Promise."


End file.
